You've Gone My Friend
by words end here
Summary: Brooke, Peyton and my version of their goodbye. Slightly AU. Friendship fic, not slash. Mentions of BLP. Oneshot. "Except she doesn’t know how to tell this to her best friend without feeling an overwhelming sense of betrayal, like she's seventeen again."


**A/N: **I'm really dreading a season seven without Brooke and Peyton interaction and although I thought their last scene was sweet, I still don't think it was enough. Some think its Nathan and Haley who have been through the most, others feel its BL or LP but for me, Brooke and Peyton have learned to live, love and laugh together. So this is my version of their goodbye. To Brooke and Peyton, who easily conveyed the most realistic, hearty and hilarious relationship on the show. The song is by an artist called New Buffalo. This isn't slash, by the way.

**You've Gone My Friend**

_You've gone my friend,_

_You've gone to start your life again_

It's a good day for Brooke Penelope Davis, as she leaves the store to check up on her best friend to make sure she's not stressed out with Sawyer. Other stories are ending, others are just beginning and she can feel that. As much as she wants to board a plane to Los Angeles to win her boy back, a bigger part of her wants to see her best friend finally have the life that she so desperately deserves. Brooke was right there with her, when Anna Sawyer died. Peyton's mother. And of course, when Ellie died. She found herself so scared to find that Sawyer could possibly be left motherless, without that unconditional love in her life. Not that Brooke doubts that she would have been there to compensate as much as possible for the loss, but growing up without a real mother realised how emotionally hindering a childhood without a mother could really be.

It doesn't begin as one of _those _days, when your entire world shifts and it will never be the same. That didn't mean it would end as one, though.

--

Peyton talked to Lucas about it all, leaving. They didn't know what impulse seized them and refused to loosen its grip, but they had to leave. Karen Roe had been right all those years ago, there is only one Tree Hill and sure, it was home. It was their home. But with the ring on her finger and the precious little life in her arms, Peyton realised that her home was wherever they were, that it always had been. Some stories, like her and her husbands, ended where they began. He had her from the first look; she had him from the first time he glanced at the tangled blonde curls. They had each other from the beginning and that was that. They had diverged into different paths over the years but it was only to find their way back. And the more she reflects on their relationship, the more she's grateful to the others; Jake, Brooke, Lindsey, Julian – because they helped her realise who she was meant for all along.

Except she doesn't know how to tell this to her best friend without feeling an overwhelming sense of betrayal, all over again. Like she's seventeen; cheating all over again. She came back for Lucas this time last year and her best friend, her beautiful and selfless best friend came back for her and now, she was bailing. At least that's what it felt like. Sheer, brutal betrayal.

So if she was going to actually do this; leave home with her home, she needed to remind one of the people who made it possible just how much she loved her.

She picks up the phone.

"Hi Karen, it's just me. Could you take care of Sawyer for a while, I have to run just one last errand."

--

_You read the book,_

_It told you how to begin,_

_And how to end._

They're at the beach, Peyton thinks that's the most fitting way for them to say goodbye. Many moons ago, they had vowed to keep a certain Scott boy out of their lives forever but both of them were so bound to the blond boy, those ties would forever bind them beyond lovers and friendship.

"P Sawyer," the nickname doesn't budge, despite the change of name, at this, Peyton manages a small smirk. "You can't really just call me to the beach. It's not like I go to work in a bikini."

"Oh Brooke Davis we need one last heart to heart."

"I was on my way over to see how you were doing anyway...wait, what?" Brooke's eyebrows furrow in that cute manner.

"I need your approval for something." Peyton hinted as Brooke sat beside her at the fire her blond best friend had made. "And I need you to be okay with this."

"You and Lucas still better be okay." Her tone is surprisingly stern, she's deadly serious. She removes her four hundred dollar Laboutin heels and flings them beside her, like they mean nothing. And they don't. "You both know you're my freakin' inspiration, right? That I wasn't cheated on for nothing and the tears weren't for nothing."

"No. S'all good baby." She jokes back and she's not hurt by Brooke's statement. The Brooke-Lucas relationship references don't sting as much as they used to, and maybe that's because for the first time, they've truly let go. The people, who belong with each other, would find their way to each other in the end. Brooke knew that herself.

_You board the ship  
the water laps against the sides  
Reminds you of  
When you were a child  
you rowed the boat to mystery  
and walked through trails  
Where all the trees_

"Good. I need proof that the fairytale can happen." Brooke smiled. "Where is my second favourite girl anyway?"

"Karen's taking care of her, which brings us to why I called you here." Then Peyton turns silent, liked a child, almost.

"Peyton...what is it? Just tell me. Shootings, boyfriends, whatever it is this time we'll be alright." Brooke comforted her.

"Lucas and I are leaving. Today."

Then Brooke's world shifts and apparently, it is one of _those _days.

_You wrapped your arms around  
And felt the breeze  
You've gone my friend  
You've gone to start your life again_

Brooke remains silent, looking tentatively, hurtfully and knowingly all at the same time into Peyton's soft green eyes and she doesn't know just how to reply to this.

"I'm sorry...I know we came back for each other. But Lucas and I need to get out of all this drama. Tree Hill – it's a vacuum sealed bag full of it, right?"

"Right." Brooke murmurs. She breaks Peyton's gaze before letting the fire take over for a while. She wants to be angry about all this, the fact that this is all so fast and so real and so –

"Brooke...please say something. I understand if you're angry." Peyton says before breaking out the old motto, "People always leave, right?"

"I thought you were my exception, that's all." She looks back into Peyton's eyes again; feeling so conflicted it hinders her ability to speak. "But I understand. You get to have your happily ever after. My work is done." And before anything else is said, she surprises the blonde by pulling her into a hug.

"Thank you. I needed your blessing for this, Brooke."

"You'll always have that, stupid." They giggle. It's a devastating and happy occasion. A single tears slips down Peyton's cheek and Brooke wipes it away. "Where are you two or three, going?"

"I don't know." Peyton erupts into laughter, this really is beyond ridiculous. "We just need out of here for a while."

"I understand. I'm thinking of leaving myself."

"Please tell me it's to get your boy back."

Brooke nods and Peyton smiles. "You've been so good to me. Thank you for having faith in me." The statement's earnest delivery makes Brooke shake for a second, and a tear comes down her cheek to, leaving a black river behind. "Thank you for making sure I had y happy ending. Now you need yours, Brooke. It's long overdue."

"It sure feels that way."

_The ropes are tied  
The shapes lay hard  
Against your side  
Forgive me for this  
Empty ride  
I gave to give  
And not to hide_

They sit on the beach for two hours and a few minutes and both of them swear time fast forwarded the player, they couldn't feel minutes of idle chatter pass by. They reminisced about Lucas, _"You know you weren't the only one I came back for, Peyton." _And laughed like they did when they were ten years old. Carefree, innocent and just happy. Between them, they shared boyfriends, drama and they shared the most comforting memories.

They went to Tric that night, did shots like they did when they were seventeen and except this time around, they had princes to save their drunken asses, even if the prince was on the opposite side of the country.

"_I have a flight tomorrow morning, P Sawyer! I can't win the boy back with big bags under my eyes!"_

--

Morning rose more briskly and precisely than Peyton would have liked. She was relishing this new journey, this new experience with the people she loved most. Lucas kisses her forehead as she gets ready, telling her everything is set, they're ready to leave in the Comet, Sawyer has been fed and they have everything they need.

Peyton does have everything she needs. And yet, in a way she doesn't.

Karen sends them off, and they stop off to say goodbye to everyone, the other Scott clan and Skills. The goodbyes are terribly sad, as if Peyton and Lucas know this is the end, somehow.

She insists on going to Brookes, even though Lucas insists she's already gone, and she is. There's something attached to Brooke's front door, an envelope with Peyton scrawled on it. Inside, it was a photo, undoubtedly taken at Brooke's eighteen birthday beach party bash, although no one was exactly in the mood, namely Lucas himself. They had their arms around each other. _'Best friends forever' _in white calligraphy above the picture.

It was the exact same copy that Peyton had burned on Nathan and Haley's wedding day.

"Oh God, Brooke." She tears up.

Brooke not being here, it was almost as if this was her real goodbye, her way of telling the blond woman what was most important, and their friendship. Their happiness.

"Peyton?" Lucas gestures.

She's making her way over back to the car when she flips the photo over to read:

"_Someone told me this is the place where everything's better and everything's safe. That was our friendship, Peyton. So when you need that again, don't hesitate. Because I know I'll need it and I know I won't hesitate."_

She closes the car door, not showing it to her husband but not hiding it from him either. Instead, she displays it on the dashboard.

--

"_There ought, I thought, to be a ritual for being born twice – patched, retreaded and approved for the road." – Sylvia Plath._

_--_

**A/N: **Review, my darlings! One word will suffice.


End file.
